Maryada may
be in danger, but Sikhs are special in PakistanVarinder Walia

THE
numerical strength of the Sikhs in Pakistan is almost insignificant.
Less than 50,000 of them are spread over East Punjab, Peshawar and
other parts of the country. Owing to the unfavourable state policies
of Pakistan towards minorities, Sikhs, Hindus and Christians barely
get absorbed in government jobs. As a result, literacy among Pakistani
Sikhs and Hindus is extremely low. Most of the Sikhs, who are engaged
in petty trade, do not send their children to schools. Sikhs, however,
enjoy ‘more liberty’ than the Hindus due to the ‘hidden agenda’
of Pakistan. Hindus who met this correspondent in Pakistan expressed
their anger and helplessness over the abduction of their girls by
Muslim youths. Sikh girls, however, are spared this humiliation —
only two Sikh girls have been abducted since the Partition.

Pakistani Sikhs, no doubt, had taught
Gurmukhi to their children so that they could recite the holy scriptures
but hardly any member of this community has enrolled in a college or a
university till recently. However, with globalisation of education, an
awakening has been witnessed among Pakistani Sikhs. Gulab Singh, a
resident of Nankana Sahib, is doing his graduation from the Homeopathy
College, Lahore. Other residents of the same town, Mimpaul Singh and
Kalyan Singh, are also pursuing their studies. The former is in the
final year of MBBS at the Lahore medical college, while the latter has
got admission in LL.B. Kanwal Kaur from Lahore is a known poetess of
Pakistan who writes in Punjabi as well as Urdu.

At the time of the
Partition, most Sikhs and Hindus who were doing brisk business at Lahore
were either massacred or were forced to migrate to India. However, it is
for the first time after Partition that Hamir Singh opened a cloth shop
in Gulbargh, a shopping centre of Lahore, last year.

The Sikhs of Peshawar,
who are known for their small-time businesses, have for the past couple
of years started sending their wards to colleges and universities. Rajan
Singh of Peshawar is well versed in computer engineering and is bringing
out a magazine, Khalsa Times, in Punjabi, Urdu and English.
Another Sikh from Karachi, Anil Singh, is doing MBBS in Karachi, while
his two sisters are also into the same profession. Interestingly,
Pakistani Sikhs are taking part in sports and cultural activities too.
They have even formed their own cricket team. Kalyan Singh, a young boy
of Nankana Sahib, has acted in a number of feature films and one-act
plays. He has featured in movies like Laila Majnu, Kuri Panjaban
and a play named Kesri Painda on Punjab problem, produced by Niaz
Mohammad.

The co-chairman of the
Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee ( PSGPC) said Sikhs in
Pakistan do not want to get absorbed in government jobs as trade or
business has always been their first preference. He said that though Gen
Pervez Musharraf had offered to make his son Sikandar Singh a lieutenant
in the Pakistan army, he had politely refused as he wanted to start an
agro-based business.

The importance given to
Sikhs in Pakistan has started bringing their Hindu brethren into the
Sikh fold. Though Sindhis are dedicated followers of Guru Nanak Dev and
accept the Guru Granth Sahib as their holy book yet some of them
converted to Sikhism owing to the ‘special treatment’ given to the
community by the Pakistan government. Hindus do not have any top leader
to protect their human rights in Pakistan.

Child marriage is
prevalent among both Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan. Charanjit Singh from
Peshawar said due to the marginal strength of both communities, they are
compelled to marry their children with cousins. The scope of marriages
could be broadened if both India and Pakistan allowed their Hindus and
Sikhs to get married in each other’s countries.

The condition of most of the Sikh
shrines in Pakistan continues to be deplorable, the tall claims of the
PSGPC notwithstanding. After the formation of the committee on April 11,
1999, a few gurdwaras out of about 175 have been given a facelift with a
grant of Rs 1.5 crore. Though the PSGPC must be given credit to give a
new look to Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, Gurdwara Sacha Sauda and Gurdwara
Dera Sahib, the management has miserably failed to maintain the maryada
in the shrines. I saw siropas (robes of honour) being presented
to senior police officials at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib by PSGPC president
Sham Singh in gross violation of the maryada (Sikh code of
conduct). Tiny shops were allowed to operate day and night within the
complex of Gurdwara Nankana Sahib. The main gate of Gurdwara Shaheed
Daleep Singh was being used for ironing clothes. Many gurdwaras did not
have parkash of the Guru Granth Sahib. Gurdwara Diwan
Khana, Chuna Mandi, Lahore, which is in a dilapidated condition, has a
toilet constructed by a Muslim caretaker inside the parikarma of
the gurdwara. Such an aberration was also seen in Gurdwara Bhai Taruji,
Lahore. You even find Pakistanis dance to popular filmi songs when Sikh jathas
visit Pakistan. The purpose of having the PSGPC stands defeated if
it cannot restore the maryada of Sikh gurdwaras in Pakistan.

THE
whereabouts of India’s five most wanted Sikh militants still
remain unknown. Diplomatic and intelligence sources, however,
claim that to further ISI designs these Sikh ultras meet a few ‘key’
persons from the Sikh jathas that go to Pakistan.

Five Sikh
militants figure among India’s 20 most wanted persons. They are:
Gajinder Singh, self-styled chairman of Dal Khalsa International;
Parmjit Singh Panjwar, chief of Khalistani Commando Force; Wadhawa
Singh Babbar, chief of Babbar Khalsa International; Ranjit Singh
Neeta, president of Khalistan Zindabad Force; and Bhai Lakhvir
Singh Rode, chief of International Sikh Youth Federation. Earlier,
these ultras mingled freely with the members of Sikh jathas,
which was clear from the interrogation of Sukhchain Singh, alias
Mann, who had visited Pakistan with the Sikh jatha in 1998
and had met Parmjit Singh Panjwar. However, the Pakistan
Government had directed these Sikh militants, operating from its
soil, not to meet any pilgrim publicly when the Indian Government
declared them ‘most wanted’ after the attack on Parliament on
December 13, 2001. Unlike in the past, not a single inflammatory
slogan was raised by any radical Sikh outfit at Sikh shrines in
Pakistan on the occasion of the birth celebrations of Guru Nanak
Dev last year. The banners expressing separatist thoughts were
replaced with ‘welcome and congratulatory’ messages which had
been put up by the Punjab (Pakistan) tourism department. The shift
in the policy of the Pakistan Government was an apparent move to
tell the world that it was not promoting secessionist movement
anymore in the aftermath of the attack on the Indian Parliament by
pro-Pakistan militants.

To make its
presence felt, the second rung of leaders of radical Sikh
organisations was present in Sikh shrines during the birth
anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib. Sikh
leaders from foreign countries, especially from the UK and the
USA, delivered inflammatory speeches and reiterated their resolve
to create a separate Sikh state while speaking from the stage at
Nankana Sahib. Some Sikh leaders from abroad distributed
literature, advocating the demand of a separate state for Sikhs.

Giving clear indications that
they did not accept the authority of the PSGPC, the leader and the
deputy leader of the SGPC jatha refused to exchange siropas
at a function held in the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev on the
occasion of his 533rd birth anniversary. Though Alwinder Paul
Singh Pakhoke and Bhupinder Singh, leader and deputy leader of the
jatha, respectively, were present at the function, they
quietly walked out a few minutes before the beginning of the
ceremony. Gen Pervez Musharraf had not bothered to invite the SGPC
leadership even though he held a closed door meeting for about 40
minutes with the UK and USA-based radicals, including Pritpal
Singh, convener of the American Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak
Committee; Gurmeet Singh Aulakh, president of the US-based Council
of Khalistan; Manmohan Singh Khalsa, UK-based Dal Khalsa leader;
and Ganga Singh Dhillon, president of the Nankana Sahib Foundation
(in the USA). Apart from discussing demands of Sikhs at length,
General Musharraf agreed in principle to convert Nankana Sahib
into one of the most modern cities of Pakistan. By ignoring
moderate Sikh leaders from India, General Musharraf has given an
indication of the ‘hidden agenda’ of Pakistan. Keeping this in
view, the SGPC chief, Kirpal Singh Badungar, has reiterated that siropas
won’t be exchanged this time too.

Devotees violate the Sikh code of conduct by dancing to popular filmi tunes in front of Gurdwara Nankana Sahib.
— Photo by the writer

MEMBERS
of Sikh jatha are shadowed by ISI sleuths the minute they
cross over to Pakistan either from the Wagha checkpost or from
Attari railway station. In fact, the driver of a bus in which
pilgrims are ferried to various Sikh shrines could actually be a
senior ISI officer. This was confirmed when an SHO of Nankana
Sahib ‘inadvertently’ saluted the bus driver of the bus. The
activities of the pilgrims are minutely noticed. When some other
journalists and I visited the office of Lashkar-e-Toiba, the
Pakistan-based Sikh militants asked about the purpose of our
visit. Such a query stunned us as it meant that information had
been exchanged between the ISI and the militants. The only query
put to Lashkar activists which remained unanswered was: "Do
the Pakistan-based Sikh militants work in tandem with Muslim
ultras?" We were stunned to learn that even 5-year-old
children receive training in handling firearms and explosives.
Their trainers are Afghan mercenaries.

Violation of maryada: A caretaker is seen with shoes and with his head uncovered in the parikarma of Gurdwara Diwan Khana in Lahore.

THE
Pakistan Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PGPC) was formed on April
11, 1999, to mark the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of
Khalsa Panth by the then President of Pakistan. The appointment of
Lieut-Gen Javed Nasir, a former chief of the ISI, as founder
chairman of the PGPC had infuriated the SGPC. When the SGPC had
refused to send jathas in protest against the formation of
the PGPC, the Government of Pakistan inserted the word ‘Sikh.’
Thus, it was re-christened as the PSGPC (Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara
Prabandhak Committee). The office of the PSGPC opened in the main
building of Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, but it closed after a year.
The five-member committee was disbanded and Sham Singh was made
co-chairman of the PSGPC. Notwithstanding tall claims, Pakistan’s
aukaf board failed to finalise the constitution of the PSGPC even
after four years of its formation. Elections have never been held
to elect the body in a democratic way. The SGPC and some of the
founder members of the PSGPC have levelled charges that Sham Singh
was originally a Muslim who had converted into Sikhism. This
charge was, however, strongly refuted by him. The background of
Sham Singh, who is well-versed in Gurbani, thus continues to
remain shrouded in mystery.